Deliverable 01
A written architecture story.
The end-to-end technical narrative — from data ingestion to user experience — that ties the programme together. Reviewed with the platform, security, and engineering leads.
S5 · Advise · Phase 2 — booking now for later this year
Technical & Solutions Architecture
A senior architect embedded with your programme — end-to-end design, build-vs-buy calls, vendor evaluation, technical risk review.
Architecture work is where the compounding decisions get made. We do this role as engineers who still ship — because architecture only stays honest when the person doing it has to live with the consequences.
This service ships in Phase 2. If you’re staffing a Q3 or Q4 programme, we’re happy to discuss shape and availability now.
When to bring us in
Signals we're the right fit.
- You have several AI initiatives in flight and no single technical narrative that ties them together.
- The build-vs-buy call for the next capability is a coin toss and the coin is expensive either way.
- A vendor evaluation needs a peer who's shipped what they're pitching, not a scorecard filled in by committee.
- Your platform team wants a written architecture story to point new starters at.
- A high-stakes design decision has to survive a security or compliance review you haven't run before.
How we approach it
The moves that repeat.
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Start with the constraints, not the diagram.
Data classifications, compliance posture, existing platform choices, operational reality, cost envelope. The interesting design decisions live in the constraints; the diagram is the artefact.
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Build the honest options tree.
For each significant decision, two or three real options with the trade-offs written down. No straw-man "obviously the wrong choice" alternatives; a decision only lands if it beats the runner-up on the record.
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Run the vendor process like an engineer.
RFPs your engineers wrote, POCs against your workload, references from people who've had a bad quarter with the vendor. Score on evidence, not on charisma.
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Document for the room after next.
ADRs your future architects will inherit. Runbooks your future on-call will read. The written record is the deliverable; the diagrams are the illustrations.
What you get
Deliverables, in plain English.
Deliverable 02
A stack of ADRs.
One per major decision. Options considered, decision made, context for the next reader. Lives in your repo, not on a wiki nobody visits.
Deliverable 03
A vendor + build-vs-buy report.
For each significant choice — build in-house, use an open model, commit to a vendor — the honest case with a recommendation and a revisit date.
Engagement models
Shapes the work comes in.
EMBED
Embedded architect.
Two to four days a week alongside your platform team. Weekly design review, monthly architecture write-up, always-on Slack.
REVIEW
Architecture review sprint.
Three-week engagement on an in-flight design. Options paper, decision workshop, written record. For programmes that need a senior second opinion before committing to a direction.
Related services
Often composed with this one.
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Agentic Systems Engineering
Multi-step LLM workflows with clean topology, tool surfaces, memory, evaluation, and safety — built to land in production, not stall in a demo.
S3 · Build
LLM Integration
Chat, RAG, and the wider integration stack — measured, regression-tested, and cost-aware from the first prompt.
S6 · Advise
Strategic AI Consultancy
Leadership-level direction — opportunity portfolio, operating model, board-ready narrative — grounded in what's actually buildable today.
Ready to talk about a technical & solutions architecture engagement?
A 30-minute discovery call. We'll get to the shape of the work and whether we're the right fit.